Seal-locked can.



, E.TYDEN.

SEAL LOOKED GAN. APPLICATION FILED HA3. 6, 1913.

Patented Dec. 2, 1913.

Em zZ COLUMBIA PLANoaRAPH co., WASHINGTON. n c,

EMIL TYDEN, 0F HASTINGS, MICHIGAN.

SEAL-LOCKED CAN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 5, 191-3.

Patented Dec. 2, 1913.

Serial No. 751,984.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL TYDEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hastings, in the county of Barry and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Seal-Locked Cans, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to pro vide an improved construction of a can or the like, such, for example, as a milk-shipping can, which shall be adapted to be secured with a lock adapted to be sealed to prevent tampering.

It consists of the elements and features of construction shown and described as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a partly sectional side elevation of a milk can of a common form, modified so as to embody this invention, and provided with a lock, section being made radially with respect to the can at a vertical plane adjacent to the position of the lock. Fig. 2 is a section at the line 22 on Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow 3' on Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section at the line 14 on Fig. 1 showing the device sealed. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the seal employed in the lock shown. Fig. 6 is a detail section similar to Fig. 2,

" but showing the form of the cover member of the can modified in a minor detail. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the seal in a slightly modified form. V

The can represented in the drawings is,

in general, of familiar construction, com-' prising a cylindrical body, 1, having a liaring upper marginal portion, 2, and a cover, 3, which telescopes within the cylindrical body, and which has at its upper end a flange, 4, which overhangs the flaring upper end of the body, and is curved downward to engage by its wired margin, 1, with the wired margin of said flared upper end of the body.

For locking the body member and cover member of this can together at closed position, thereis mounted onthe outside of the body, preferably in the angle between the cylindrical portion and the flaring or conical portion, a bolt housing, 6, in which there is provided a bolt, which, as illustrated, is a seal bolt or bolt and seal combined, 7 This bolt is made of sheet material, preferably seal bolt, and the can body is apertured in the plane of the slide-way provided in it for the seal bolt, to permit this tongue of the latter to protrude through said body member of the can for engagement with the cover member; and said cover member is provided with a circumferentially-extending shoulder, 11, facing upwardly for engagement with the bolt tongue, 9, to prevent the withdrawal of the cover from the body. This shoulder is most conveniently, and therefore preferably, produced by forming a circumferentially-extending groove, 12, in the outer surface of the cover, such groove being rolled or pressed in the sheet metal of the cover by methods familiar to the sheet metal working art. Other methods of forming the shoulder, however, are obvious. The shoulder, and the groove when employed as a means of producing the shoulder, are extended circumferentially of the can, preferably entirely around the same, so as to avoid the necessity of turning the cover to any particular position in order to permit it to be locked by the seal bolt. It is not neces sary that the groove or shoulder should extend entirely around. It may be suflicient for practical convenience to extend it through a considerable segment, say ninety degrees of the circumference of the can body; but when extended less than theentire circumference, it must be terminated by a stop shoulder to prevent the cover from being disengaged from the bolt by rotating it. When the groove is employed for the purpose of producing theshoulder, 11, the stop shoulder, 13, (seeFig. 6) necessarily results from limiting the groove to a portion of the circumference.

Obviously, a great variety of means could be employed for retaining the bolt in looking position. The preferred means consists in what is commonly known assealing bolt; that is, providing means by which a sealing element is connected with the bolt so as to secure it in looking position, which sealing element must be broken before the bolt can be withdrawn. A great variety of wellknown sealingdevic'es could be employed for securing the bolt in locking position. The preferred form consists in making the bolt so that it is itself a seal, or comprises as a part of itself the sealing element. For this purpose, the bolt is formed as shown in Fig. 5, having an aperture, 7 into which a tongue projects fro-m one margin of the aperture, said tongue standing normally in the plane of the sheet of which the bolt is made, and in no wise interfering with thrusting the bolt in its slide-way in the housing to move it to or from locked position. The housing, 6, is formed with an aperture, 6", transverse to the slide-Way, 6, in which the seal bolt operates. This aperture, 6", extending entirely through the housing from side to side is positioned so that it approximately registers with the aperture, 7", of the seal bolt when the latter is at locking position. Speaking more accurately, the relation of said transverse aperture, 6", to the features of the seal bolt is that at the locking position of the latter, the vertical edge of the aperture, 6*, remote from the can body, coincides substantially with the vertical edge of the tongue, 7, remote from the can body at the locking position of the bolt; and the aperture, 6, of the housing extends so as to expose the entire area of the tongue, 7, at said locking'position. hen the seal bolt has been thrust into locking position, the operator thrusting a finger through the aperture, G", of the housing may bend the tongue, 7, out of the plane of the seal bolt into position transverse to said plane, thereby causing said remote edge of the tongue to extend across the said remote edge of the aperture and prevent the withdrawal of the seal bolt. The seal bolt is of such material, and the tongue is so constructed, that upon bending the tongue back to its original normal position, it will break off from the body of the seal, and the seal may then be with drawn, unlocking the can. The adaptation of the tongue, 7, to be bent, as described, without breaking, and to break from being bent back to original position, may be a result of the character of the material of which the seal bolt is-made, in view of the abrupt angles which the lateral edges of the tongue make with the edge of the aperture from which the tongue protrudes; that is, the tongue may be adapted to thus break without any special means for weakening it at the line at which the folding and breaking are to occur; but preferably, the tongue is weakened at this line by reducing its connectionwith the body of the seal at the margin of the aperture to a mere neck, 7, or two necks, 7 7 as shown in the form represented in Fig. 7.

The tongue, 7, and the aperture, 6 in the housing through which the tongue is exposed and accessible, are designedly made large enough so that the tongue can receive an identifying mark, indicated by the characters, X, Y, Z, in the drawing. The seal bolt has sufficient extent outside the housing when it is in locked position to be provided at its exteriorly-extending part with any other identifying mark or number, as indicated by the number, 123, shown upon said protruding part of the seal in the drawings.

Preferably, the seal bolt has a cover-engaging tongue, 9, positioned a little off the center of width of the bolt so that a little accommodation to variation of position of the groove shoulder, 11, can be obtained by using the seal with one edge or the other up.

I claim p 1. In a can or the like having a cover member telescoping with the body member, the combination with said members of a lock mounted on the outer side of the outer hf said telescoped members, comprising a boltthrust through said outer member for looking, the inner member having a circumferentially-extending groove in its outer surface positioned for engagement of toe bolt there-1 with.

2. In a can or the like, comprising a body member and a cover member telescoping with each other, the outer of said members having a flaring upper part, the combination of said members with a lock mounted on the outside of such flaring part having a bolt thrusting inward, the inner member having an exterior groove extending circumferentially at a position for engagement of the bolt therewith.

3. In a can or the like which comprises a body member and a cover member telescoped with each other, the combination with said members of a seal lock comprising a housing mounted upon the outer side of the outer of said telescoping members, said outer member being apertured for the thrust of a bolt therethrough, and the inner member having means for engagement of a bolt thrust through said aperture, said housing having a slide-way for a flat seal bolt, which slide-way registers with the aperture of the outer member, and an aperture extending through the housing transversely of said slide-way, and a flat seal bolt adapted for sliding in said slide-way and terminating for engagement with the inner of the two can members, said seal bolt having intermediate its ends a tongue which at the looking position of the bolt is exposed in said transverse aperture of the housing, said tongue being bendable in the aperture transversely of the slide-way and adapted to break upon being bent back to its original plane.

4. In a can or the like which comprises a body member and a cover member telescoped with each other, in combination with said members, a seal lock comprising a housing mounted upon the outer side of the outer of said telescoping members, said outer member being apertured for the thrust of a bolt therethrough, and the inner member having means for engagement of a bolt thrust through said aperture, said housing having a slide-way for a flat seal bolt, which slide-way registers with the aperture of the outer member, an aperture extending through the housing transversely of said slide-way, in combination with a flat seal bolt adapted for sliding in said slide-way and terminating for engagement with the inner of the two can members, said seal bolt having intermediate its ends a tongue which at the locking position of the bolt is exposed in said transverse aperture of the housing, said tongue being bendable in the aperture transversely of the slide-way and adapted to break upon being bent back to its original plane, and having its edge remote from the telescoping walls of the can members at the locking position of the bolt, proximate to and slightly inward from the outer edge of said aperture in the housing for preventing the withdrawal of the bolt from looking position when the tongue is so bent;

5. In a can or the like which comprises a body member and a cover member telescoped with each other, the body member being flared at its upper end and the cover member having a flange overhanging said flaring upper end of the body member, a lock for securing said body and cover members together comprising a housing mounted upon the outer side of the body member; a bolt mounted in said housing for locking and unlocking movement and projecting through the flaring upper end portion of the outer member for engagement with the cover member, said cover member having on its outer surface for said engagement a circumferentially-extending upwardly facing shoulder.

6. In a can or the like which comprises a body member and a cover member telescoped with each other, a seal lock comprising a housing mounted upon the outer side of the outer of said telescoping members, said member being apertured for the thrust of a bolt therethrough and the inner member having means for engagement of such bolt, said housing having a slideway for a flat seal belt, which slide-way registers with the aperture of the outer member, and having a shoulder transverse to the slide-way facing toward the can at a short distance away from the outer surface of the latter; in combination with a flat seal bolt adapted for sliding in the slide-way and terminating for engagement with the inner of the two can members, said seal bolt hav ing a projection which, at the locking position of the bolt, stands inward from said inwardly-facing shoulder of the housing, said tongue being bendable to stand across the shoulder, preventing the withdrawal of the seal bolt, and adapted to break from being bent back to its original plane.

7. In a can or the like which comprises a body member and a cover member telescoped with each other, the combination with said members of a seal lock comprising a housing mounted upon the outer side of the outer of said telescoping members, said outer member being apertured for the thrust of a bolt therethrough, and the inner member having means for engagement of a bolt thrust through said aperture, said housing having a slide-way for a flat seal bolt, which slideway registers with the aperture of the outer member, and an aperture extending through the housing transversely of said slide-way, and a flat seal bolt adapted for sliding in said slide-way and terminating for engagement with the inner of the two can members, said seal bolt having a portion which at the locking position of the bolt is in position for bending out of its normal plane into the transverse aperture of the housing, said portion being bendable transversely of the slide-way to cause it to stand in said transverse aperture, and being adapted to break upon being bent back into its original plane.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, at Chicago, Illinois, this 24th day of February, 1913.

EMIL TYDEN. Witnesses:

LUCY I. STONE, EDNA M. MAcINTosH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

